I belong to two quilt guilds, and the local one is having our Christmas party soon.  This year we decided our gift exchange will be mugs with coordinating quilted mug rugs.  I knew I didn’t want to do a seasonal theme—I wanted something that could be used year-round.  I started by choosing the mug (pictured above), then I went to my stash and found this cute sewing-themed fabric from Northcott:

Perfect!  Then I googled Free Mug Rug patterns, but just about every one of those was way above my skill level!  So I decided just to wing it.  I chose three of the fabrics, cut them to size, and pieced them. I knew I wanted to make them a little over-large, so I could trim and square after they were pieced.  The main fabric was cut around seven inches wide; the middle (rulers) fabric was about two-and-a-half inches wide, and the third fabric was about four inches wide.  Each was cut 17-18 inches long (because I knew I wanted to make two—one to give and one to keep).  Here’s what they looked like after I sewed them together, then cut into two mug rugs:

I chose one of the remaining fabrics to use as the backing (it’s from Northcott), and I cut the backing and batting to size.  Here are the front and back of the mug rugs.  Realistic looking, aren’t they? (Especially the backing!)  There is nothing sitting on these rugs—all of the notions are part of the print!

Then I quilted them on my regular sewing machine.  I quilted one of the mug rugs diagonally and one vertically, and when I couldn’t decide which one I like better, I decided to let the better binding be my deciding factor in which I should give away (the vertically-quilted mug rug looked better, so it’s going to the Mug Rug Exchange). I chose purple binding to match the mug.  Here’s the matching set:

I hope someone likes it–we’re doing a Dirty Santa exchange! Merry Christmas, all!